Water Dragon Style
Immaculate Dragons of Water meld the crashing strength of the tsunami, the unutterable calm of a perfectly smooth lake and the cold, grinding force of a frozen glacier into a deadly martial arts style. Students of the style spend long hours contemplating water in all its forms: the cutting edges of ice, the owing and indestructible nature of water, the gentle but deadly snowfall and the free-form essence of scalding steam. Swimming and sailing have their parts in the training, as a monk must come to fully understand his element. When they enter combat, Water Immaculates seem to melt away from their opponents’ blows, run through their grasping fingers and then strike with the force of a great wave. Though a single wave cannot topple a castle, Water Stylists wear their foes to the ground with an unending series of eroding strikes and kicks. These Immaculates wield “dragon’s claws” in combat, which are effectively stylized tiger claws (or razor claws). Water Dragons are so skilled in using these weapons that their owing movements create glittering walls of slashing steel and jade, hypnotically beautiful but of deadly consequence. Water Dragons wielding paired dragon’s claws reduce the Speed by one and add two to the weapons’ Defense. Water Dragon Style is compatible with armor. FLOWING WATER DEFENSE Cost: 2m; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1; Type: Reflexive Keywords: Combo-OK, Leader Duration: (Essence) actions Prerequisite Charms: None Striking water is easy to do, but it is hard to do more than make a harmless splash. Similarly, soft water does not do more than ow past stone, but it always takes something with it. While the Charm is in effect, the Immaculate subtracts one die from all his attack pools, but anyone who tries to attack him suffer a -2 external penalty. RIPPLING WATER STRIKE Cost: 2m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; Type: Supplemental Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious Duration: Instant Prerequisite Charms: Flowing Water Defense Just as a pebble thrown through the surface of a pond sends ripples washing to shore, so can the Immaculate’s blow ripple through Creation. When she connects with a strike aided by this Charm, the very air appears to ripple outward from the point of contact. If an attack supplemented by this Charm successfully inflicts levels of damage on its target, the Immaculate compares the attack separately to the defense of all secondary targets in a 3 yard range of the target. If the attack overcomes the defense of a secondary target then they suffer raw piercing bashing damage from the attack. This Charm is not discerning—friends are as susceptible as foes. When the Immaculate raises her Essence to 4, she may spend Essence to make the Charm ignore her companions and friends. For each mote spent, the ripples ignore one creature. She may not exempt more targets than she has dots of Essence. DROWNING-IN -BLOOD TECHNIQUE Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; Type: Simple (Speed 4) Keywords: Combo-OK, Crippling, Stackable Duration: Instant Prerequisite Charms: Rippling Water Strike The body contains a great deal of water, in the form of sweat, tears… but mostly blood. Immaculates of Water learn the secret tides of blood, and they can strike a target in such a way that it disrupts and diverts a victim’s blood. By channeling it into the target’s airways and lungs, an Immaculate can actually drown his foe in her own blood. After a successful Martial Arts attack, which does not dam- age the target, the Immaculate’s player (Strength + Martial Arts) opposed by the target’s (Stamina + Resistance). If the Immaculate wins, his target suffers internal bleeding and loses one dot of Stamina for a number of actions equal to the Immaculate’s extra successes. Subsequent uses of the Charm are cumulative, and a target reduced to 0 Stamina is dead. SHRUGGING WATER DRAGON ESCAPE Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; Type: Supplemental Keywords: Combo-Basic Duration: Instant Prerequisite Charms: Rippling Water Strike Water cannot be bound. Rivers flow through a man’s fingers, ice melts away, and steam escapes into the air. The Immaculate tries to mimic this perfect freedom, using this Charm to prevent herself from ever being restrained. When she uses it, mundane chains shatter, ropes snap, and handcuffs drop away. It also nulliﬁes the effects of supernatural restraints for a number of ticks equal to the Immaculate’s (Martial Arts x 3). Any valid action to escape personal restraint automatically succeeds witha threshold of (character's Martial Arts rating) WATER DRAGON FORM Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Simple (Speed 5) Keywords: Form-type, Leader Duration: One scene Prerequisite Charms: Drowning-in-Blood Technique, Shrugging Water Dragon Escape With a few graceful body movements, the Immaculate becomes more like the liquid element he seeks to emulate. As that element, he can absorb and dissipate vast amounts of damage while suffering very little harm. While this Charm is active, the Exalt adds his Martial Arts to his bashing and lethal soak and soaks lethal damage with his full Stamina. Also, when successfully attacked, he may further augment his soak by Reflexively spending one mote per two points of soak. This soak applies to only a single attack, and he must spend the Essence in Step Seven of attack resolution. Finally, the Immaculate’s owing motions make his attacks hard to evade and his defenses even harder to predict. He adds his an amount equal to his Essence to his Martial Arts Ability for the scene. This Charm is incompatible with any armor that has a mobility penalty of -2 or greater, because such armor constrains the martial artist and prohibits the natural ow necessary for this Charm. The Essence bonus to Martial Arts is a dice bonus added by a Charm and does not add to the character's natural rating. FLOW REVERSAL STRIKE Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Simple (Speed 5) Keywords: Combo-OK, Crippling, Touch Duration: Instant Prerequisite Charms: Water Dragon Form By influencing the water Essence inside her target’s body, the Immaculate can completely—if only for a moment—reverse the blood in a person’s veins. All she need do to enact this Charm is give the target the slightest touch. Some Water Immaculates find ways to begin combat by using this Charm amidst a handshake or other friendly gesture. If an unarmed Martial Arts attack is successful (whether or not it inflicts any damage), the target’s player rolls (Stamina + Resistance) at a difficulty equal to the Immaculate’s successes on the initial attack roll, before reducing successes from the target’s DVs. If the roll fails, he takes one level of unsoakable lethal dam- age. Whether or not the target succeeds, he loses two dice from all dice pools for a number of actions equal to the Immaculate’s Martial Arts. Mortals are less hardy than the Exalted, and those who fail the (Stamina + Resistance) roll die instantly, as do animals of less than twice the Immaculate’s size. Most gods, automatons and undead have no blood and are immune to this Charm, but some (such as water elementals or creatures with great amounts of liquid in their forms) are still susceptible and take two levels of lethal damage if they fail the roll. CRASHING WAVE STYLE Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Extra Action Keywords: Combo-OK Duration: Instant Prerequisite Charms: Flow Reversal Strike Wave after wave crashes up against the rocky shore, and after each rush of water, more sand and stone washes away. By the time the storm is finished, nothing is left. On a successful Martial Arts attack, the Immaculate makes a second attack at -1 die to his pool. If the second attack succeeds, he can make a third attack at -2 and a fourth at -4. Each subsequent attack doubles the die penalty, and the Charm ends when the one of the Immaculate’s attacks misses, his dice pool hits zero or below or the number of attacks equals his Martial Arts. This flurry ignores rate and has a total DV penalty of -1. THEFT-OF -ESSENCE METHOD Cost: 4m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Supple-mental Keywords: Combo-OK, Shaping Duration: Instant Prerequisite Charms: Water Dragon Form Certain texts of Daana’d suggest seeing beings that wield Essence as self-contained eddies in Creation, small vortices of power. Immaculates teach a method for interrupting those small whorls in Creation’s ow, diverting that Essence to the monk’s righteous use. After a successful attack, the Immaculate’s player rolls (Essence + Martial Arts), stealing three motes of Essence for each success from his target and adding them to his own reserves. This Essence counts as Personal for all purposes, but it may inflate his pool beyond its normal boundaries. He may use this Essence, but only on Charms from Water Dragon Style. Unused Essence gained from this Charm fades at a rate of one mote per minute. GHOST-RESTRAINING WHIRLPOOL STANCE Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Simple Keywords: Combo-Basic, Crippling, Shaping, Stackable Duration: Until abandoned Prerequisite Charms: Theft-of-Essence Method Just as a sinking ship can create a vortex that sucks down fleeing survivors, Immaculate martial artists can create a similar effect in the medium of Creation’s Essence. By crafting a small ball of her water Essence and hurling it into the sea of Creation, she creates a temporary whirlpool of Essence that hinders spirits. As long as she maintains the proper stance, the effects remain. The Immaculate’s player rolls (Charisma + Martial Arts), and the players of all spirits within (Essence x 10) yards roll the creatures’ Essences. Spirits who achieve more successes than the Immaculate may ignore the effects of this Charm. Any spirit who fails the roll suffers a -1 external penalty for each success by which the Dragon-Blood’s roll beats his. Additionally, each success reduces the speed of the spirit’s Move and Dash actions by one yard per success, unless the spirit is moving toward the Immaculate. If the external penalty exceeds the spirit’s Essence, the spirit becomes inactive for the duration of the Charm unless its permanent Essence is greater than the Immaculate’s, in which case it suffers the normal penalties but can continue to act. In order to sustain this Charm, the martial artist must take a -2 external penalty to all actions. When he drops it, the Charm’s effects remain for three ticks before fading. Use of this Charm is obvious to spirits. BOTTOMLESS DEPTHS DEFENSE Cost: 5m, 1ahl; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 7) Keywords: Combo-OK, Leader Duration: One tick Prerequisite Charms: Crashing Wave Style, Ghost-Restraining Whirlpool Stance Activating this Charm allows the Immaculate to ignore all damage from any source for one tick, as he siphons the wounds into the limitless abyss of the Water Dragon. The effort is greatly draining, however, and he immediately suffers a single level of aggravated damage. Practitioners of Water Dragon Style save this Charm for extreme circumstances. To perform such powerful techniques carries away a piece of the soul, and Immaculates are rightly wary of such consequences. The aggravated health level in this Charm's cost is considered a unique flaw of invulnerability. This Charm's Leader benefit may not be applied to area-of-effect attacks. Danaa'd is not harmed by the use of this Charm. ESSENCE-DOUSING WAVE ATTACK Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Supple- mental Keywords: Combo-OK, Shaping Duration: Varies Prerequisite Charms: Bottomless Depths Defense Smothering an opponent with the dousing power of pure water Essence, the Immaculate attempts to metaphorically drown and put out his opponent’s magic. The Immaculate makes a normal Martial Arts attack. If he inflicts damage, the Immaculate’s player makes an immediate (Essence + Martial Arts) roll at a difficulty of half the target’s Essence. For three ticks per success, any Charms or spells affecting the target cease to operate. If the number of successes exceeds the Essence of whatever individual invoked the Charm or cast the spell, the magic is completely dispelled. The durations of inactive Charms continue to count down. Targets affected by this Charm can reactivate the Charms and spells that were canceled. Unless the Charms are stackable, people who suddenly have the same Charm active twice (as Essence-Dousing Wave Attack ends) gain no special benefit. This Charm can be used on friends to subdue unwanted effects, but the Immaculate must inflict at least a single level of bashing damage to trigger the effect. This charm enhances an unarmed martial arts attack. It cannot supress Adamant or Obsidian circle spells and has no effect on astrological Charms. TSUNAMI FORCE SHOUT Cost: 10m, 1wp, 1hl; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Simple Keywords: Combo-Basic, Obvious Duration: Instant Prerequisite Charms: Essence-Dousing Wave Attack Filling her lungs with the life of the Water Dragon itself, the Immaculate summons all her strength and expels a low, rumbling, water-Essence-laden shout that shakes all who stand before her. Tsunami Force Shout radiates out from the Immaculate in a 45-degree arc extending out a number of yards equal to her Essence. The player makes a single unblockable attack roll of (Charisma + Martial Arts + Essence) and compares this attack separately to the defenses of all targets in range. Those hit by the attack take (+ Martial Arts x 2) levels of aggravated damage. The player of anyone within the area of effect makes a Reflexive Essence roll. On a botch, any damage dice not soaked in Step Seven of attack resolution are automatic successes. If the Essence roll fails, the damage is soaked and rolled normally. If the roll succeeds, the damage becomes lethal instead of aggravated and is rolled normally. With a threshold of three or more on the Essence roll, the damage is bashing.